Washington, D.C.—U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) today went to the Senate floor to pledge federal support in the fight against the wildfires burning in Southern California, and to thank all of the firefighters, elected officials, and volunteers who are working to save lives and protect threatened communities.

Excerpts of Senator Boxer’s remarks follow:

”Senator Feinstein and I have heavy hearts as we talk to our Governor and our Mayors at home and they are conveying to us that this is very serious, because our firefighters are at a huge disadvantage because of the unpredictability of the winds.  You just don’t know from one moment to the next whether they will just turn on these firefighters.  And last year was a very tough year for us in California.  We had some horrific experiences and we lost firefighters, and we’re just not going to repeat that.  We have to make sure that we save lives and that we get people out of their homes.

“Our firefighters deserve our prayers and our thoughts, as do all the people in the Southern California region.  And we have to remember that they just go out there and do everything they are trained to do, and the last thing they think about it themselves.

“Thousands of our brave firefighters are frantically working in conjunction with the California Department of Forestry and the U.S. Forest Service, the California Highway Patrol, and the U.S. Border Patrol and FEMA to contain these fires.  And I want to thank the dedicated federal workforce that has joined this effort. They deserve our support as well.

“People are escaping with only the clothes on their backs.  Families have no time to gather anything as they flee.  As I speak, these fires rage on… we pray that these winds stop their fierce blowing.

“We need to make sure our communities have the resources they need now.  California can’t fight this battle alone.  The Governor has declared a disaster in seven counties, and as soon as he asks the President for a federal declaration, I know President Bush will act swiftly on this.  There are certain areas where we have to work together, where there cannot be an inch of distance between us.

“Right now, we must contain these fires.  Right now we must save lives.  We must provide shelter and hope for those displaced.  I want to thank my colleagues from both sides of the aisle who have come up to me and who have come up to Senator Feinstein and said to us, ‘please, let us know what we can do,’ because we will be calling on you and we know that you care very much about the 37 million people of my state, and a large proportion of them in Southern California, really being impacted by these fires.”


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